so, does the 12.1.3. update fix the audio problems on the new ipad pro's?

I currently have a first gen 12.9 ipad pro and I'm running out of space so I'm looking to update to a 2018 12.9 ipad pro. But as I use it mainly for music production I'm a bit hesitant because of all the reported audio issues.
I know this topic has been dealt with multiple times before. I've read all the discussions about the audio problems (crackle) on the new ipad pro's on different forums and I can seem to find a really conclusive anwser to the question if the 12.1.3 update REALLY fixed the crackles. Probably because more parameters are involved (like samplerate and external audio intterface, etc.)

So, two questions:
1. In general, does the 12.1.3. fix the audio issues? (what is the fix anyway, usage of the high performance cores for audio?)
2. Does the 2018 Ipad pro perform significantly better than the 2015/2017 ipad pro?

could those with real experience on the subject please answer those questions? what are your findings?

Comments

There are always cases of people not having the same luck as others. So far the overall experience on the new ipad is snappy, but that speed doesnt seem to be incredibly different, in my case, for the new ipad compared to my previous one. Throw in the new sample rate issue that users experience on the new iPads and its a mixed bag. I appreciate having 1TB now, but the experience for music making is still mixed.

the new iPads (at least the 12.9) apparently defaults to 48k sample rate and this seems to be causing problems with some DAWs and instrument apps when selecting sample rates, or when certain apps default to the system sample rate.

In my case, and as was said each person’s experience may be different.... Yes it did fix the audio/cpu problems for me generally. I think the reason there hasn’t been much written about this issue since then is that for most people this got way better. I also still have a 10.5 that I will now be selling soon, but I did lots of comparison testing first.

My take 3 months later is that this new gen was a major change to the iPad platform, with many more changes to how they work under the hood than people realize. As a result, there are still some odd random issues. But these are now one-off issues specific to certain apps or certain situations.

The audio problems before 12.1.3 were dramatic and obvious. Couldn’t use more than 1-2 apps at once. Some apps couldn't be properly used at all like the Moog apps (all better now). Now I can have complex projects going in Cubasis or AUM or AB just like always. The improvement is so fundamentally obvious nobody could really say otherwise IMHO.

2018 vs 2017? I agree it is snappier in general. The updated screen is beautiful. It’s a real joy to use. Most USB-C hubs, cheapies too, work perfectly which helps take the edge off of the sad loss of the headphone jack. When creating the same setups in 2018 vs 2017 I found that the stated cpu usage in apps like aum generally ran about 10% less on the 2018. But as the devs point out this number should be taken with a grain of salt. True performance wise I’m not sure there are a lot of things I could do on the 2018 that I couldn’t on the 2017. I think there would be compared to a 2015 Pro though, especially going forward.

I do really love the new iPad. It does feel like a big step up from the 2017. Definitely wish I bought it today though and not last November. In my opinion, the coast is now clear.

Btw, it is my understanding that the sample rate issues are app and plugin bugs related to apps not taking device sample rate into correct consideration compounded by plugins not adapting to the host sample rate.

@espiegel123 said:
Btw, it is my understanding that the sample rate issues are app and plugin bugs related to apps not taking device sample rate into correct consideration compounded by plugins not adapting to the host sample rate.

This is made worse on the new iPads because it won’t let you change the sample rates to match in certain cases. Like if I recall correctly I wasn’t able to switch to 44.1 in Cubasis or Auria because the both are stopped by another process running in 48. Even with every other call closed, it seems the new iPad sound drivers lock at 48.

@espiegel123 said:
Btw, it is my understanding that the sample rate issues are app and plugin bugs related to apps not taking device sample rate into correct consideration compounded by plugins not adapting to the host sample rate.

This is made worse on the new iPads because it won’t let you change the sample rates to match in certain cases. Like if I recall correctly I wasn’t able to switch to 44.1 in Cubasis or Auria because the both are stopped by another process running in 48. Even with every other call closed, it seems the new iPad sound drivers lock at 48.

As I understand it, the problem is the apps not adapting to the hardware sample rate. They shouldn't be assuming that the hardware can run at 44.1hz. Not all hosts have this issue.

I don't know if it's related, but I've been trying to use StudioMux to get audio to my Mac. With one app it works [for the most part]. The instant I add another app into StudioMux the audio to my Mac is horrible crackling. I don't have this issue with multiple apps in say Audiobus and audio on the iPad.

@Liquidmantis said:
I don't know if it's related, but I've been trying to use StudioMux to get audio to my Mac. With one app it works [for the most part]. The instant I add another app into StudioMux the audio to my Mac is horrible crackling. I don't have this issue with multiple apps in say Audiobus and audio on the iPad.

Have you tried taking StudioMux out of the equation, using just a standard IDAM connection setup with your computer? If not, try that and see if StudioMux might be the culprit.

@Andrik yes the latest releases fixes all of the throttling issues.http://5pin.link/iab/
Scroll down to check the results there (read the info)
The Pro Gen 3 had near enough the exact same results as the Mini 2 before this IOS update, now with the latest scores it is the fastest iPad in the list by a good way.

Peak tests are coming soon.

Non of this covers the samplerate bugs, just the CPU throttling issues.

@Liquidmantis said:
I don't know if it's related, but I've been trying to use StudioMux to get audio to my Mac. With one app it works [for the most part]. The instant I add another app into StudioMux the audio to my Mac is horrible crackling. I don't have this issue with multiple apps in say Audiobus and audio on the iPad.

Have you tried taking StudioMux out of the equation, using just a standard IDAM connection setup with your computer? If not, try that and see if StudioMux might be the culprit.

Thanks! Yeah, IDAM works, but it's only a single stereo channel. Unrelated to this thread, for some reason I'm getting about 25 ms of MIDI latency with IDAM but audio latency is imperceivable.

@espiegel123 said:
Btw, it is my understanding that the sample rate issues are app and plugin bugs related to apps not taking device sample rate into correct consideration compounded by plugins not adapting to the host sample rate.

This is made worse on the new iPads because it won’t let you change the sample rates to match in certain cases. Like if I recall correctly I wasn’t able to switch to 44.1 in Cubasis or Auria because the both are stopped by another process running in 48. Even with every other call closed, it seems the new iPad sound drivers lock at 48.

As I understand it, the problem is the apps not adapting to the hardware sample rate. They shouldn't be assuming that the hardware can run at 44.1hz. Not all hosts have this issue.

I’ll check again later, but if I recall correctly, I’ve no ability to set studio apps to a different rate. Any attempt is met with an error message stating the sample rate doesn’t match the setting of another process. If I recall correctly this happened with both speakers and headphones, but might be different if I use an audio interface.

For now it’s a limitation on the iPad Pro. Inconvenient to say the least.

@chocobitz825 said:
the new iPads (at least the 12.9) apparently defaults to 48k sample rate and this seems to be causing problems with some DAWs and instrument apps when selecting sample rates, or when certain apps default to the system sample rate.

That’s only an issue when using the speakers on the iPad itself. If you plug in headphones or an interface it goes back to 44.1. 12.1.3 fixed all the issues for me and app updates

now for the samplerate issue.. As I understand it, older ipad (back to a certain model) also used 48Khz as default? so what is different now? Why is this suddenly a problem? And as @YZJustDatGuy says, when you use headphone or an audio interface do you still face that problem?

@chocobitz825 said:
the new iPads (at least the 12.9) apparently defaults to 48k sample rate and this seems to be causing problems with some DAWs and instrument apps when selecting sample rates, or when certain apps default to the system sample rate.

That’s only an issue when using the speakers on the iPad itself. If you plug in headphones or an interface it goes back to 44.1. 12.1.3 fixed all the issues for me and app updates

Just to repeat, the iPad sample rate switching is not a bug. Apps are supposed to check the hardware sample rate and sample rate convert on the fly if they need to. Some apps just assume that all hardware works at the 44.1 k that past hardware used even though there was no promise from Apple that all hardware would run at 44.1k.

now for the samplerate issue.. As I understand it, older ipad (back to a certain model) also used 48Khz as default? so what is different now? Why is this suddenly a problem? And as @YZJustDatGuy says, when you use headphone or an audio interface do you still face that problem?

There’s no issue. The issue is if you open an app without headphones or an interface then plug it in. Some apps will give you clicks and pops or even out of tune samples. Zeeon gives me clicks and pops. Syntronik plays out of key. It’s the switching of sample rates that’s the issue